Media Releases

Friends of the Earth (FoE) Climate Justice Campaigner Stephanie Long, was surprised by the strength of the Australian governments claims of the impacts of climate change in the recently released report Climate Change: An Australian Guide to the Science and Potential Impacts.

Leading environment groups have joined southern Sydney residents to call for an urgent halt to construction works at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor following a report in today's Australian newspaper that the site may have been targeted by terrorists.

National environment group Friends of the Earth (FoE) will join with people at parties across Australia today celebrating the shelving of the ill-fated Jabiluka uranium mine in Kakadu. The national celebrations mark the completed re-burial of over 50,000 tonnes of unprocessed uranium ore at the controversial site this week.

Friends of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Campaign For International Cooperation And Disarmament (CICD)

Australian peace groups have urged the government to follow yesterdays vote by the Australian Senate in support of the New Agenda Resolution 'Towards a nuclear weapon free world: a New Agenda' supported by South Africa, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Sweden and Ireland, which is being put through the United Nations General Assembly's First Committee on disarmament on 29 October.

WASHINGTON ? Twelve states, several cities, and over a dozen environmental groups today joined forces to challenge the Bush Administration's continued failure to confront global warming. The plaintiffs are targeting the unprecedented ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency late last summer that summarily disavowed the agency's longstanding jurisdiction under the Clean Air Act to regulate global warming emissions. The states, cities and groups challenged the EPA decision in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Geneva, London. 22 October 2003. In the midst of growing European dissent over the impending arrival of the first four of 13 toxic, deteriorating ex-naval vessels from the US "ghost fleet", a new report, Needless Risk, was released jointly today by the Basel Action Network in Geneva and Friends of the Earth UK in London. The report details not only the environmental threat posed by the risky towage of aged naval vessels, but likewise exposes the fact that the United States has the adequate technical capacity to deal with the ships safely at home and that the trans-oceanic shipments are in contradiction with national and international law.

Australian peace and environment groups Friends of the Earth Australia and Australian Peace Committee today welcomed two notices of motion placed by Senator Andrew Bartlett of the Democrats on the subject of nuclear weapons.

Friends of the Earth Indonesia, (WALHI) demands the government halt operations at the Grasberg mine (known as ?Freeport¹) following a disastrous landslide on Thursday morning 9 October 2003. The Grasberg mine in West Papua is jointly owned by USA-based Freeport McMoran and UK/Australian mining company Rio Tinto Ltd.

On the eve of Hugh White's (Australian Strategic Policy Institute) comments that Australia is unprepared for biological warfare, scientists from the World Health Organisation have stated to the World Climate Change Conference that global warming is responsible for 160,000 deaths per year. This figure is also said to double by 2020 as climate change effects increase.

Cancun, Mexico, September 9, 2003 - Trade and environment ministers from all around the world gathering today in Mexico at a key meeting ahead of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial in Cancun were warned not to trade away the environment.

September 14, 2003, Cancun, Mexico ? The European Union and the United States drove the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks here to collapse as they refused to give any concesssions to a bloc of developing countries. Agreement could not be reached on proposals from Europe, Japan and others to expand the WTO and bring in new negotiations to liberalise investment, competition, government procurement and trade facilitation (known as the 'new issues').

The official death toll from the recent heat wave in France has reached 11,500 with air pollution, inadequate heath system and elderly people living in isolation being challenged as the cause of such tragic figures. This is an average of 800 deaths per day during the 14 day heat wave where temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius during the beginning of August.

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Campaign For International Cooperation And Disarmament (CICD)

The Australian Peace Committee, CICD, and Friends of the Earth Australia, today urged the Australian Government to press the US and the DPRK to keep talking. At the recent talks in Beijing, the US has refused to offer the DPRK security guarantees until it verifiably eliminates its nuclear weapons program. The DPRK has threatened to test a nuclear weapon.

A new study published today by Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace demonstrates that the growing of GM crops in Spain is causing contamination of organic crops, producing low yields and its benefits are grossly overstated. The report is also highly critical of the Spanish Government for failing to properly control or monitor the situation. [ 1 ]

Dozers rolling at JabilukaRehabilitation work commences at Kakadu mine-site

Australian Conservation Foundation
Environment Centre of the Northern Territory
Friends of the Earth Australia

Environment groups have welcomed the start of rehabilitation work this week at the Jabiluka uranium mine-site. A report on last night's ABC 7-30 Report confirmed that mining company Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) began putting uranium back down the mine on Tuesday.

Landowners from mining affected regions in Papua New Guinea (PNG) have declared their fierce opposition against public funding for new mining projects. They stated that their clans are committed to defend their customary rights.

US Policies Worsening North Korean Nuke Crisis Say Peace Groups: Aust Should Take Lead In Restoring Sanity

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Ozpeace
Rally For Peace (Brisbane)
Campaign For International Cooperation And Disarmament (CICD)

Australian Peace groups Friends of the Earth, the Australian Peace Committee, Ozpeace and CICD have accused the Australian government of following along with US policies that are steadily worsening the North Korean nuclear weapons crisis, creating a real risk of either a conventional conflict or possibly a nuclear exchange.

June 12, 2003, Geneva / El Salvador -- An invitation by World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi was declined by Ricardo Navarro, Salvadorean Chair of Friends of the Earth International, in a letter sent today.

There are increasing calls to assist the 2,000 Cateret Islanders that are stranded without food on small atolls off Bougainville. For the past five months the Islanders have been reliant upon the fish that they catch as crops and gardens have been destroyed by high tides. Schools have closed indefinitely and children are reported to be suffering ill-health because of lack of food.

Confirmation of serious safety breaches in the construction of the new nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights have alarmed community and environment groups, who are demanding an immediate halt to construction works and an independent inquiry.

Friends of the Earth, Australia is seeking a committed and passionate campaigner to work on nuclear issues across Australia. The campaigner would be responsible for coordinating the national campaign in conjunction with local FoE groups, especially in Melbourne. The position is
for 4 days per week and covers key elements of the nuclear fuel cycle, including proposed waste facilities, current uranium mines, the Lucas Heights reactor, engagement with Indigenous and other affected communities and liaison with the national environment movement.

An unprecedented alliance of 70 environmental organisations, lawyers, academics and individuals in 29 countries have today announced their backing for legal cases to combat climate change . Under the umbrella of the international and collaborative Climate Justice Programme, they want to see existing laws enforced to help present and future generations and hold the perpetrators of climate damage accountable and liable for the consequences of their actions. These cases have already started.

May 13, 2003 Washington (US) / Brussels (Belgium) -- The United States administration is to bring a case in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the European Union over Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), according to media reports today [1]. The US case may be joined by Argentina and Canada, large-scale GMO producers, and by Egypt, hoping for a US free trade deal later this year.

The Federal Government has given the go ahead for the highly controversial national nuclear waste dump today. The approval of the National Radioactive Waste Repository Environment Impact Statement allows for the road transportation and burial of radioactive waste from the Sydney Nuclear Reactor in South Australia. The fallout surrounding the project was increased this week with the announcement of a NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into the plans including powers to call Federal witnesses.

Federal Government moves to transport large volumes of radioactive waste through NSW suburban and regional communities have run into a serious hurdle with the Carr Government confirming a dedicated NSW Parliamentary Inquiry will examine the controversial plan.

"When bad news comes in trees" was the headline in The Australian newspaper Business Extra published on 30 April. This is a good expose on the self-regulation of the Tasmanian forest industry by reporter Carol Altman.

Kakadu Mayday Call: Mining Giant Rio Tinto Must Act Now

Leading environmental groups will call on British based mining giant Rio Tinto to honour its existing commitments and begin rehabilitating the stalled Jabiluka uranium mine site in Kakadu National Park at the company's annual meeting in Perth today. A statement from senior Mirrar traditional owner Yvonne Margarula calling for rehabilitation and clear consent provisions will also be presented at today's meeting.

April 24, 2003 - Paris, France / Tokyo, Japan -- Leaked documents from the 'Group of 8' (G8) exposing a dispute between G8 ministers over liability of big business for oil spills were released by Friends of the Earth International today. [ 1 ]

Friends of the Earth Australia has today welcomed the award of a major international environment prize to senior Aboriginal women from northern South Australia for their efforts to stop radioactive waste dumping on their traditional lands.

Naturally occurring uranium contains two radioactive isotopes U235 and U238 mixed together. Depleted uranium is what remains after the highly radioactive u235 is removed for use in nuclear fission. DU is an extremely heavy metal, about 1.7 times heavier than lead and is pyrophic, that is it catches fire when ignited. For this reason the military like to use it to tip the ends of weapons. A weapon tipped with DU can easily pierce through metals and shields, such as those used on armored tanks, and then explode.

National Executive of WALHI[ 1 ]
(Indonesian Forum for Environment/ Friends of the Earth Indonesia)
Jakarta, 24 March 2003

The commencement of the military aggression to Iraq, signs the bare war crimes to humanity conducted by the administrations of George W. Bush (USA), Tonny Blair (United Kingdom) and John Howard (Australia) to the peoples, the women and the children of Iraq. The ignorance to the authority of the United Nations and the violations of international conventions, show that there are no arguments to justify the military aggression of the United States and its Allies.

Peace Groups Call On Govt To Recall Troops

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Campaign For International Cooperation And Disarmament (CICD)

Friends of the Earth Australia, CICD, and the Australian Peace Committee have welcomed a Senate motion passed at 4pm yesterday after intense debate which calls on the Howard government to reject war and return troops home as soon as possible. The groups call on the government to do as the motion suggests and pull out of the war immediately.

We the undersigned environment groups are opposed to the looming war against Iraq and deplore the loss of human life and the disastrous environmental and social impacts that would result from such a war.

Prime Minister Howards refusal to rule out military action against Iraq in the likely absence of a UN resolution, and the hint by a senior Australian military adviser that in fact Australia would participate in military action without UN Security Council approval, has drawn strong condemnation from Friends of the Earth, Ozpeace, and the Australian Peace Committee. The groups strongly oppose military action with or without UN approval, pointing out that the Security Council will be subject to the most extreme pressures by the US.

The Federal Government is set to override state governments to transport and dispose nuclear waste from the troubled nuclear reactor in Sydney. Science Minister Peter McGauran today released the final Environmental Impact Statement for the National Radioactive Waste Repository. National environment group Friends of the Earth said the move is ill conceived and ignores significant community and South Australian government opposition.

Akzo Nobel has cancelled its plans to participate in the construction of a pulp factory on the Indonesian island of Kalimantan. Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie) has been demanding the company do so since 2001.

Brereton Is Right: Australia Must Take Tough Stance Against Iraq War

Friends Of The Earth Australia
Australian Peace Committee
Campaign For International Cooperation And Disarmament (Cicd)

Australian peace groups today congratulated Laurie Brereton, former ALP foreign affairs spokesperson and Convenor of the right faction in his call for a stronger and clearer opposition to war with Iraq.